APPLEBEE'S MOVES WYSE OFF ITS ADVERTISING PLATE

Wyse Advertising Inc. is off the menu as agency of record for Applebee's International Inc.
The Overland Park, Kan.-based company, which franchises Applebee's Neighborhood Grill and Bar restaurants, last week narrowed to three from seven the number of advertising agencies vying to handle its account. Wyse Advertising, the Cleveland firm that has been the restaurant chain's only ad agency for the last eight years, did not make the cut.
Marc Wyse, president of Wyse Advertising, said he wasn't surprised by the decision.
'We didn't really expect to be (selected) because the people there are brand new,' Mr. Wyse said. 'The reason for the review was that they brought in a new president and marketing director.'
Applebee's is expected to decide by the end of July from the three remaining candidates: Campbell Mithun Esty in Minneapolis, the Richards Group in Dallas and Foote, Cone & Belding of Chicago.
Wyse Advertising is Northeast Ohio's largest ad agency, boasting 175 employees, 1998 revenues of $145 million and a client roster that includes well-known clients Sherwin-Williams Co., Kelly Services and Mead Corp. Mr. Wyse acknowledged that losing the Applebee's account will have some effect on the agency. However, it's too soon to determine exactly what the effect will be, he said.
'We had a number of people dedicated to that business,' said Mr. Wyse, who did not know exactly how many agency employees work on the Applebee's account.
Mr. Wyse said the account had billings of $25 million a year, but George Shadid, Applebee's chief financial officer, said it's about $35 million.
'I don't know if we will have to let people go,' Mr. Wyse said. 'But it won't affect us for the next six months. By that time, we hope to have that (business) replaced.'
The agency will continue to do work for Applebee's until the end of this year, when its advertising contracts with television networks will expire, Mr. Wyse said. In the meantime, Wyse is working on attracti
ng new business.
'We are going after some large accounts,' he said. 'But sometimes you take an account that is small, but has tremendous potential.'
That's exactly what his agency did when it first started working with Applebee's in 1991. At the time, the chain had only 80 restaurants, all in the United States. Now it has 1,100 restaurants in 48 states and 21 restaurants in Canada, Mexico, Germany, Greece, Kuwait, The Netherlands and Sweden.
The need to market those foreign stores and grow in international markets -- not ineffectiveness on the part of Wyse Advertising -- prompted Applebee's to conduct the agency review, Mr. Shadid said. The company wants an agency with more experience in multinational markets, he said.
The three finalists can offer those resources primarily because all are part of larger companies that have an international scope, Mr. Wyse said.
'We do a lot of international advertising for Kelly and The Timken Co.,' Mr. Wyse said. 'We may not have offices in Paris, but it's so easy to get partners (in other countries) to work with you.'
However, 'Most people familiar with the agency industry know if Applebee's is looking for more depth in international experience, that would be a large order for (an agency in) Cleveland,' said Lorraine Rojek, president of The Rojek Marketing Group of Westlake, which specializes in evaluating marketing campaigns and organizations.
Ms. Rojek said that while losing the Applebee's account is a big loss for Wyse Advertising, it's not a crushing blow.
'An agency as stable and as large as Wyse can recover the loss in business,' Ms. Rojek said. 'If it was a smaller or newer agency then the loss of a big piece of business would be more troublesome. Wyse has tremendous restaurant experience they can leverage. It's painful in the moment, but there may be some good that may come from it.'
That's what Wyse Advertising is hoping for, Mr. Wyse said.
'We are talking to other restaura
nt chains,' said Mr. Wyse, who declined to identify them. 'Restaurants are a very active category.'